Prof. van Wassenhove,

Mr. Gernandt,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Many disasters cannot be prevented: earthquakes, floods, droughts, cyclones. When destructive forces of nature like these are at work, help is urgently needed immediate help, competent help, well-organised help. 

And this means humanitarian logistics. This is why we are here today, and this is why I am so pleased to be able to welcome you today to the Conference on Health and Humanitarian Logistics” here in Hamburg. 

We learned just how important humanitarian logistics are through our own painful experiences here in Hamburg 50 years ago, when the first dike broke near Neuenfelde on a frigid winter night, followed by 59 more dikes.

Almost one-fifth of Hamburg was flooded. 20,000 people were transported to safety in the days that followed. 2,000 were rescued from life-threatening danger. For 315 of them, help came too late. No one in Hamburg could remember a storm surge of such magnitude, for the last one had been 107 years earlier. 

When this happened, we in Hamburg experienced what it means to be caught by surprise by a disaster, for it took hours until coordinated assistance could be initiated. That there were not even more fatalities was owed to the the many courageous individuals who pitched in and helped often risking their own lives and brought men, women and children to safety. 

We owe a great deal to former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, as well, who at the time was the police senator” in Hamburg. It is no coincidence that this area of responsibility later developed into the more comprehensive position of State Minister for the Interior. 

He coordinated the rescue measures, calling upon the help of the Bundeswehr and NATO soldiers without any red tape. Helmut Schmidt fortunately recognised just how serious the situation was and organised all possible sources of assistance that could be used prudently, quickly and effectively.

The North Sea Flood of 1962 permanently increased people’s awareness here in Hamburg of the power, as well as the dangers, our lifelines, the Elbe River and the North Sea, can constitute for our city. As a result, later water levels that were even higher than that of 1962 were not able to impact the city to such a great extent.

What is essential here is the risk awareness which can be  rightly so sharpened by a conference like this one. And so, as a citizen of Hamburg, I also have personal reasons for addressing you today.

I believe that Hamburg is a good place to hold this conference. Hamburg is a centre of international business, a hub of European services and transport. Due to its economic geography, Hamburg plays a key role in Germany and Europe in the establishment of a variety of trade relations with the world’s marketplaces.

We in Hamburg are well versed in logistics. This can certainly be attested to by Mr. Kühne, who brought this university into being in 2010. 

Hamburg sees itself as the Gate to the World:

One in ten employed persons in the Hamburg metropolitan area works in the field of logistics a total of 330,000 people. Among Hamburg’s particular logistic advantages is its proximity to the dynamic Baltic region and northeastern Europe, as well as its extensive and strategically advantageously positioned logistics systems. 

Hamburg has the second largest container harbour in Europe. More than ten million travellers pass through our airport every year, and over 150 companies process their air cargo here. Hamburg is the largest railroad hub in northern Europe. No other European port is linked as closely to the ecologically advantageous railroad as Hamburg. 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Let us take a look at the past two years alone. In 2010, there were approximately 400 disasters worldwide, resulting in 300,000 fatalities and affecting a total of well over 200 million people. 

Almost exactly a year ago, a tsunami laid waste to large parts of the coastline in Japan and destroyed a nuclear power plant. In 2011, Somalia experienced the most severe drought it has had in 60 years. All of this is so far away, some people may think. But disasters can strike anywhere. It is wrong to believe that we in Europe are invulnerable.

All over the world, more and more people, especially in developing and emerging countries, are in need of food, medicines, water, clothing and shelter. 15% of the world population is suffering from starvation. Every year, some three million children die as a result of malnutrition, and almost a third of the world population has insufficient access to medicines.

Numerous aid organisations are highly dedicated to providing vital goods. In this context, humanitarian aid means relieving human suffering not only in the event of an acute crisis, but primarily through the regular aid programs of the United Nations.

A decisive role is played here by humanitarian logistics. But this entails more than bringing relief goods quickly and smoothly to the places where they are needed. In view of the rising number of disasters, humanitarian logistics also means preparedness.” And this means establishing crisis-proof and professional logistics chains before disaster strikes.

I am well aware that this presents a dilemma for the aid organisations. On the one hand, they are urged to keep their administrative costs as low as possible; on the other hand, they need to be prepared to act immediately. 

On the one hand, their resources are declining, as donations have dropped as a result of the economic crisis; on the other hand, their costs, such as for food, have doubled in recent years. 

How can aid organisations deal with this dilemma? How can they cooperate, learn from one another, and thereby become more efficient? These will be important topics at your conference.

More deployments, but fewer financial resources this situation also has consequences for us citizens, and I wouldn’t want to deny this. 

Luckily, people’s willingness to donate has remained high in Germany. But if we want to be certain that our aid organisations are well prepared, we must not wait to donate until we see the pictures of starving children or inundated stretches of land on television.

Aid organisations are faced by still another challenge. Again and again as is the case in East Africa at the present time a sufficient amount of food is actually grown regionally and is available. However, it cannot reach the people in need, or does not reach them quickly enough.

In such cases, help from the outside and this is a growing problem can destroy local markets. A question of increasing concern, therefore, is how humanitarian aid can be organised so that the growing local structures can be incorporated and maintained. Sustainable aid structures in centering around nutrition and health will be key topics of this conference, and I very much welcome this.

Each one of us can still recall the images of the situation in Haiti, when the relief goods could not be brought into the country after the earthquake of 2010 because the logistics had not been organised. The overstrained airport in Port-au-Prince, destroyed harbour installations, and impassable streets presented enormous challenges to the helpers. The relief goods were there, but they couldn’t be delivered to the people, or only with considerable delay.

To make such aid efforts more effective, and thus to save more lives and to prevent more suffering, we want to focus more intensely on humanitarian logistics. 

We are constantly optimising our own logistics systems even in the context of limited resources. Our goal is to utilise our traffic infrastructure as efficiently as possible, to make the transport of goods as sustainable and environmentally compatible as possible, and to carry out transports as quickly, reliably and precisely as possible. 

I am well aware that such methods cannot be applied directly in regions in which key roads, bridges or airports may have just been destroyed.

But speed, reliability and completeness are often decisive factors in humanitarian efforts, too. The speed begins here with us, when we ship the relief goods. Yes, they need to be sent off immediately. But no indispensable detail may be forgotten. If an emergency hospital is to be set up and the surgical instruments are missing, this will be of no help. It is specifically in this context that we can use new automation technologies to increase the efficiency and speed of logistics processes. 

This is why we support research projects in this field. For example, the Ministry of Economics, Transport and Innovation is currently considering a research project with the Hamburger Logistikinstitut involving automated completeness checks. 

Completeness for fire-fighting operations, completeness for disaster operations, completeness for regularly-scheduled maintenance of complex technical equipment. Thanks to modern RFID technology, significant increases in speed can be achieved here, and processes that ensure quality can even reduce cost and effort. 

We can apply the know-how we have amassed to improve humanitarian logistics processes. We want to use our knowledge in the organisation of aid processes, and we want to ensure a sustainable transfer of knowledge, to bolster the ability of the people on site. We want to thus help people to help themselves.

Consolidating management, logistics and humanitarian aid will enable research results which will provide concrete assistance for people in disaster areas: emergency disaster aid, worldwide health logistics, and vehicle fleet management. Research will also be aimed at discovering what humanitarian logistics can learn from commercial logistics.

The decisive factor will be how successful this collaboration is between the aid organisations, business and, especially, the logistics companies, but also the players on the ground the governments, the local producers, and sometimes even, as we in Hamburg know from our experience in 1962, the military. Your conference will be doing pioneering work in this area. 

The Conference on Health and Humanitarian Logistics will be considering solutions for humanitarian logistics and options for collaboration. And it will add to public awareness of the problem of humanitarian logistics.”

We in Hamburg have learned from our experience in 1962. We are prepared. We would like other regions in the world to be equally prepared. And this conference can make a significant contribution to such efforts. 

I wish you a good conference, constructive talks, and much success. 

Many thanks. 

Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.